Kali Linux Web Penetration Testing Cookbook - Second Edition

How it works...

HTA stands for HTML Application, which is a format that allows for the execution of code within a web browser but without the constraints of the browser security model; it is like running a fully trusted application, like the browser itself or MS Word.

In this recipe, we used Metasploit to generate a malicious HTA file and set up a server to host it. Our malicious file contained a reverse shell; a reverse shell is a program that, when executed by the victim, will establish a connection back to the attacker's server (that's why it is called reverse), as opposed to opening a port in the victim to wait for an incoming connection. When this connection is completed, a command execution session (a remote shell) is established.